What Was The Hottest Take This Year?
Rating the spiciness and truthiness of the hottest takes we heard in 2025.
Today's Liberal News
Money Talks: Saving Lives Without USAID
Mary Childs learned about how places like ALIMA and Givewell are moving forward now that USAID is done.
Nuclear Fusion Powered by Memestock
Trump Media & Technology Group has merged with a nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies.
Can Disney Save Mickey from GenAI?
Disney invests $1 billion in OpenAI so you can’t use Sora to make Darth Vader porn among other concerns.
States step into the breach as Obamacare subsidies lapse
Even state governments that want to help can’t completely cover rising insurance premiums.
Trump admin doles out billions for rural health
Montana and California will receive near equal amounts in 2026, despite their massive size disparity.
The miracle cure for sickle cell is now 2 years old. Most are still waiting.
Despite a Trump administration push, there are few facilities offering the complex treatment in the rural areas where many patients live.
The ultraprocessed food makers have an answer for RFK Jr.
The companies behind Doritos, Oscar Mayer wieners, and Kraft Mac & Cheese are warning state regulation promoted by the health secretary is driving up your food bill.
Why RFK Jr.’s plan to follow Europe on vaccines is getting panned
In some cases, Europe has better contained disease, in others it’s let them spread to keep costs down.
When Church Was a Queer Space
Outward’s hosts sit down with the host and co-creator of When We All Get to Heaven.
Remembering, with the People of MCC San Francisco, AIDS Still Isn’t Over.
The neighborhood changes, the church moves, people forget and remember “the AIDS years,” but AIDS isn’t over.
What Happens When You Organize Church Around AIDS – and AIDS Changes?
The AIDS cocktail opens new possibilities. And MCC San Francisco tries to use the experience of AIDS to make bigger social change.
The Church’s Pastor Gets Diagnosed with AIDS. And the Church Wonders How Much They Might Lose.
The church’s minister gets sick and everyone knows it.
A Church Romance Between a Hula Dancer and a Lumbersexual Blossoms in a Dangerous Time.
The church’s “it couple” faces AIDS, caregiving, and loss as part of a pair, part of families, and part of a community.
Vance tries to thread affordability needle in Rust Belt
The vice president fine-tunes Trump’s economic message, but he’s only got so much wiggle room.
Ex-Trump voters swung hard to Democrats over costs in NJ & VA, new research shows
Voters who backed Donald Trump in 2024 and swung to Democrats in this year’s Virginia and New Jersey elections did so over economic concerns, according to focus groups conducted by a Democratic pollster and obtained by POLITICO.
Democrats think they’ve found their 2026 message — and Miami just backed it up
In races across the country, Democrats focused on promises to make life more affordable — even as they offered contrasting approaches.
Voters sour on Trump’s handling of the economy in new poll
The White House plans to make affordability a key selling point for Republicans across the board as the 2026 midterm elections come into focus.
Trump will again test ‘blame Democrats’ message on the economy — this time at a casino
President Donald Trump will give a speech in Northeastern Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the first stop in a ‘tour’ where he will talk about affordability concerns, among others.
The Cult of Costco
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Because every day is Black Friday at Costco, I choose to go on Saturday. I like to get there early. I always park in the same spot (right next to the cart return), and wait with the other die-hards. It has the thrill of a stakeout, absent any crime or danger.
Facts vs. Clicks: How Algorithms Reward Extremism
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On this week’s episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He examines the many actions President Donald Trump has taken that run counter to the ideals articulated in 1776, and considers how the Founders’ constitutional genius may ultimately be what frustrates Trump’s attempt to consolidate power.
“The Blue Road to Trump Hell”: Norm Solomon on “How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy”
A new report from the grassroots organization RootsAction aims to do what a promised “autopsy” from the Democratic National Committee ultimately did not: publicly reckon with the failures of the Democrats’ 2024 presidential campaign.
“Mayor for the Masses”: Can the Democratic Socialist Movement That Elected Mamdani Keep Its Momentum?
New York City is preparing to welcome Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist and member of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, into office as mayor. Ahead of the highly anticipated inauguration, we sit down with NYC-DSA’s co-chair Grace Mausser to discuss the goals of the incoming administration and next steps for the volunteer-powered campaign apparatus that helped propel Mamdani to City Hall.
“One More Step to Push Out Principled Humanitarian Actors”: NRC on Israel Ban on Aid Groups in Gaza
Israel is set to suspend the operating licenses of Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam and dozens of other humanitarian aid groups in Gaza and the West Bank over alleged ties to Hamas, preventing international aid workers from entering Gaza and carrying out critical, lifesaving operations. Israel’s licensing process is “arbitrary and highly politicized,” explains Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the impacted groups.
U.S. Strikes Against Venezuela: Trump “Wants the Oil” as Grassroots Resist “Economic Asphyxiation”
As the Trump administration escalates its military campaign against Venezuela, we speak to Venezuelan journalist Andreína Chávez about the latest developments. Responding to the U.S. military’s drone strikes on small boats and seizures of oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, Chávez says U.S. claims of pursuing fentanyl traffickers lack evidence and are “pretext” for an attempt “to asphyxiate the Venezuelan economy” and wrest control of the country’s state-owned oil reserves.
Five Books About Going Out That Are Worth Staying In For
There are nights when the dance floor beckons but the bones refuse. When the urge to party arrives, it may be too late to book a babysitter. Perhaps you’re already in sweatpants, or closing time is before midnight where you live. Possibly, the prospect of going out has been raised but vetoed by a cohabitant, and you don’t want to tango alone.
The Holiday Traditions of a Nation Long Dead
Every year in late December, my childhood home transformed into a vision of American bliss. We’d gather to ornament a tree, drape string lights around the house, and sit down to an elaborate feast. Not long after dawn the next day, while our little sister still slept, my brother and I would impatiently sneak downstairs to see our gifts, which we understood to have been delivered by a kindly old man. It could have been a scene out of A Christmas Story. Except we weren’t celebrating Christmas.
The MetroCard Never Got Its Due
On a chilly December morning, I descended a flight of stairs and entered the New York Transit Museum. Housed in a decommissioned subway station in downtown Brooklyn, the museum was packed with elementary-school children on a field trip. All around me, tour guides shepherded groups of them through the various exhibits. Later on, I heard one guide ask if any of the students knew how to pay for the subway. “You tap a phone,” a child volunteered.
What Was The Hottest Take This Year?
Rating the spiciness and truthiness of the hottest takes we heard in 2025.